


One Hundred Year Snow

by ladyjax



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Female Character of Color, Multi, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-16 13:33:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28707462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyjax/pseuds/ladyjax
Summary: Nile, Booker, Nicky, and Joe.  Snow and a family of war and love.
Relationships: Booker | Sebastien le Livre / Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani / Nicky | Nicolo di Genova / Nile Freeman
Comments: 3
Kudos: 15
Collections: Holly Poly 2020





	One Hundred Year Snow

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CypressSunn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CypressSunn/gifts).



> This particular note in your likes: "Snowed-In Cabin/Isolated Together For Extended Period Of Time: Trapped together and forced to learn about each other. Forced to care for each other, to listen and to appreciate," made me think of this.
> 
> Less forced to learn and more reflection.
> 
> I hope you enjoy it!

The snow was coming down thick and fast, leaving New York City blanketed in swaths of white. Nile slogged through the low fluffy drifts until she arrived at the building where the team was currently in residence. When she reached the vestibule, she thrust her wrist with the counterfeit barcode beneath the scanner then shifted from foot to foot as the older device slowly cycled through it’s records to find her. “C’mon,” Nile muttered. She might be immortal but that didn’t mean that she didn’t get cold. Finally, the scanner finished its cycle with a surly “beep”, allowing her to enter the building.

As Nile walked by the registration desk, the attendant intoned, “Evening, Miss Blue.” She responded with a half-hearted wave and made for the elevator. She’d been Aliyah Blue for a few years and no longer flinched when she was addressed as such. So many years gone and Nile had been known by many different names around the world. Lessons learned by dint of experience at Andy’s side had given Nile a host of information that she still used every day. Entering the elevator, she hit the button for the top floor, shaking off the last of the snow from her clothes and hair.

“Finally!” Nicky’s voice called out when Nile walked in. “Our beloved leader has returned to us.” Nile rolled her eyes and swept her hat off her head just as Booker sauntered up. 

“You’re freezing!” he scolded as he helped Nile out of her coat. He was careful to shake the last little bits of snow and ice on the doormat before hanging up the coat near the door. He then grabbed Nile’s hands and rubbed them vigorously. 

“Would you stop?” she groused. “You’re like a mother hen.” Leaning in, she gave him a quick peck on the cheek to lessen the imagined sting of her words. “Besides, I come bearing gifts.” She pulled her hands away so she could snag her backpack and hold it up triumphantly.

“Let the woman in, Booker!” Joe added with a laugh. 

She was “the woman” to them, sometimes. A state of being. She was “woman,” “Nile,” “Bella”, “Boss” and a host of other names in languages long forgotten by this time. Nile learned that all those names meant one thing: that she was loved and cared for by her team. This family of brothers and lovers.

Booker slipped an arm around Nile and bumped his hip against hers. She favored him with a kiss on the cheek before heading deeper into the apartment. There was something to be said for the things that money could give one access to. Such as a private dwelling situated in a less than upscale neighborhood that provided sufficient cover for those who did not wish to be easily found. Copley didn’t even know about this place, Nile having tapped a contact from one of their previous jobs to secure the spot.

They’d been settled in for less than a week when the storm descended on the city. “It’s a sign,” Nicky had said when they were watching the snow pile up outside. “We should stay a while.”

Which meant nesting. Nicky took up residence in the kitchen, determined to keep them well fed. Booker delved into books that he’d kept putting off reading, while Joe took refuge in pens, pencils, and paper. Nile woke up one morning to find him drawing the three of them curled around one another. 

In contrast, Nile was restless. She’d slip out into the winter landscape and walk until she was chilled to the bone only to return to warmth when she was ready.

Nile opened her pack and pulled out a tightly wrapped package and held it out to Nicky, who wiped his hands on a dishtowel before taking it from her. “No beef to be had,” she said apologetically. “But I didn’t think you’d say no to duck.”

Nicky chuckled as he unwrapped the plump bird. “Certainly not. Nor will I say no to that either,” he said, nodding at the bottle of Cabernet she’d put on the counter. “Duck stew, I think.”

Joe’s head popped up from where he’d been sleeping on the couch and his eyes lit on Nile. “You’re back.”

“I was only gone for a couple of hours, Joe.”

“You were missed,” he replied as he got up from the couch. Nile found herself engulfed in a firm hug, her body pinned against the somewhat ratty sweater that Joe had taken to wearing of late. Nicky was always threatening to throw it out which only resulted in an elaborate game of keep away. The sweater always returned.

Nile had asked Andy after a job once - before they got Booker back, before Quynh reclaimed a part of her soul - what is like to walk centuries with the men at her back. She’d looked over Joe and Nicky, resting, no doubt listening and said, “I could tell you that it’s the best thing in the world, or the worst. That you’ll fall in love with them or they you.” Andy’s lips twisted a little. “You’re just going to have to find out for yourself.”

**

After dinner, after they clean and secure their weapons, Joe and Nicky grab Nile’s hands and pull her into the bedroom followed by a laughing Booker. Sometimes they all make love in every laughing configuration they can think of. Other nights, like this one, found them piled into bed, Nile clad in a frippery of scarlet silk that Nicky bought while he and Joe were on a jaunt in Italy. They left the bedroom curtains open, the streetlight reflecting light off the snow.

“What story tonight, eh?” Booker asked. His hands rested lightly on Nile, whose own hands carded through Joe’s hair from where his head rested on her thigh. Nicky curled against him, an arm slung over Joe’s waist, his head propped up with his other hand.

“I think you were telling us about Jerusalem, Nick,” Nile replied drowsily. 

“I was, yes. Let’s see, where shall I start?”

“They’ll take care of you, if you let them,” Andy whispered on the nights when the nights drew long and Nile couldn’t sleep. She relaxed against Booker and knew those words to be true.


End file.
